Going for Second Best
by Auphanim
Summary: After Sora and Riku are kidnapped by aliens before they can fulfill their destinies, Fate has no choice but to go for a less than perfect delivery girl.


Disclaimer: If I had to, in one word, describe how much I didn't own Kingdom Hearts, this would be it: IfIownedKHtherewouldbesmutandyaoiandallothergoodstufffruitful.

Author Notes (relatively important, but you really don't have to read them):

'Gurgle' – Thoughts

"Gurgle" – Speech

/Gurgle/ - Alien mind control (woo)

\Gurgle\ - Alien mind control reply (woo-hoo)

Author Notes (completely irrelevant and likely to harm you if you read them) : : Phear meh. Second KH fic. YEAH! D Oh, by the way, the title will probably change, bur for now, that's all I can think of. xx

Oh yes, one more thing, I'm not good with writing accents, so yeah. --;;

Chapter Warnings: Shounen-ai, violence, insanity, aliens, and a little Kairi bashing.

Chapter One: Captivating View

Sunlight drifted in on the wind, invited in by the open window and fluttering curtains. It was a peaceful day, partly cloudy just as the weather man had predicted yesterday when he said 'sunny, but there's a chance that it will be partly cloudy.' The man's forecasts were usually correct, but today he had messed up just a bit. It was true that the sky could be said to be partly cloudy, but some preferred to say that it was mostly sunny. In this respect, the weather man was completely unreliable and occasionally a downright liar. However, most people were happy to just accept whatever the wonderful man of weather predicted, seeing as their lives didn't revolve around whether it was mostly sunny outside or just partly cloudy.

Of course, the owner of the window through which the sunlight was creeping in didn't really give a damn about the weather, preferring to ignore the fact that the weatherman existed and instead go his entire life not worrying if it was indeed mostly sunny or partly cloudy. Instead, he usually took the weather for granted, as teenagers often do. It wasn't a planned disrespect for the weatherman, it was simply an adolescent punk doing what adolescent punks do best; that is, believing the world should revolve around them and then getting upset when they are shown that other people in the world exist and that the world really revolves around the sun.

Now, coming back to the situation at hand, the owner of the window didn't really care about the weather, but more of the sun that was creeping in like a rising tide, casting its glorious rays over his face while he tried desperately to sleep in 'just five more minutes.' Not that anyone believed that, because many people have come to understand that for teenagers, 'just five more minutes' somehow turns into hours. Many well-paid scientists have toyed with the idea of teenagers having their own special language and private code words, but after spending almost their entire life savings on research that got them absolutely nowhere, they decided that teenagers were just one of the mysteries of the Multiverse and left it at that.

The certain teenager we're focusing on was a rather unique one, despite the fact that he was just the same as all the other teenagers he shared an island home with. Yes, there was nothing out of the ordinary about him at the moment; a mess of spiky brown hair, blankets strewn across the bed he currently flopped about in and some even on the floor, a large white shirt twisted around the boy's torso, and a pair of rather embarrassing boxers that had little hearts all over them. Nothing really different or even interesting about him, save for perhaps the boxers.

But it wasn't his current self that was so interesting, it was what the brunet was destined to become. This scrawny boy with arms that resembled tan sticks was about to be set on a predetermined path that would eventually lead him to wield a giant key and be called the Keyblade Master. Not an exceptionally original title, but we can assume that the thousands of years ago when this person first came around, the people were more worried with getting rid of the nasty little problem of Heartless destroying their worlds than giving a good, proper, original title to the person that was currently saving them. One could argue, of course, that giving a title that threw their enemies into tremors of fear and made their allies humble in respect was more important than saving a few thousand people, but anyone who had the gall to say that was usually brutally beaten with a wet noodle for shear stupidity.

Back to the not-so-ordinary brunet, he was about to receive a rather unexpected visitor. The boy that was currently climbing up the stairs to the sleeping brunet's room was also very unique. His destiny was to become the enemy of his best friend, a wielder of shadows and all-around not so nice guy. Looking at him as he was now, you'd never guess that he was going to become something decidedly evil. His entire attire was yellow, black and blue; the puffy pants not exactly something that would strike fear into the hearts of millions. The only thing that could be said to be intimidating was the feral gleam in his eyes, probably put in there by the prospect of waking his best friend up in the most surprising way possible.

The silver-haired boy crept his way slowly up the stairs, keeping his footsteps light so they wouldn't awaken the beast before he'd had his fun. His gloved hand reached for the shining doorknob slowly, as if he were reaching for something sacred, then pushed the door in very carefully, glaring at the hinges as they creaked in annoyance at being used so early in the morning. With a last narrow of his green eyes to make sure the hinges got the idea, his focus turned to the tangle of sheets and clothing that was his friend. He raised an eyebrow at the embarrassing boxers that had little hearts all over them.

Shrugging and thinking the phrase 'to each his own', Riku set a smirk to his face and hunched over slightly, slowly slunk over to his friend's bed. Once there were just a few feet between himself and his prey, he stopped, crouching down with his eyes still focused on the boy like a very hungry snake about to devour a very nice looking mouse. After a few moments of quiet preparation, Riku pounced, his legs propelling him forward to land right on the sleeping brunet's stomach.

Now, you're probably expecting to have a yelp and then some witty and interesting insults and comebacks, but you'll have to be disappointed. Not that they won't come, they will be here (though not too witty or even enrapturingly interesting), but it seems like now would be as good a time as any to go into what exactly the tousled brunet was dreaming about. If this seems trivial and rather un-needed, then you may proceed to after the little 'dream sequence' that is coming up, but who knows, perhaps sometime later in the story a reference may pop up to this certain dream, then you'd have to come all the way back to the first chapter to read it. Of course, a reference to the dream is unlikely, at the least to say highly improbable, but it just might happen.

Sora was lying on his back, staring up at a pinkish-purple sky that was filled with floating gum drops and strawberries. Raspberries also appeared floating by serenely in the sky, bumping into gum drops and strawberries, but they seemed to be a rare species in this little world of sugary goodness as they only came about every few minutes or so, while there seemed to be a never-ending supply of the other random items floating in the sky. This puzzled the boy. Why were raspberries the only endangered species in the sky? Has someone been hunting them? He thought of making a wild-life preserve for the nearly-extinct fruits, but was then distracted by wondering what he was laying in.

Sitting up and glancing around, he found that he was in a field of muffins. Sora blinked, seeing muffins covering the ground as far as the eye could see. It was a bit unnerving to see such a sea of muffins, but then he saw that couches were frolicking through them, jumping up occasionally to eat a raspberry, and it somehow made sense to him that there should be a large quantity of muffins where-ever couches frolicked and ate raspberries. Still, there was a little part of his mind that said 'let's go investigate', so he stood up, brushing non-existent dirt off his knees.

Not sure where exactly to go, the brunet began making his way towards the leaping couches, trying to decide if he was going to ask for directions or if he was going to scold them for eating so many raspberries when there were so many muffins on the ground. He thought about this, suddenly comparing the muffins to grass and trying to convince a human to stop eating beef when there was perfectly good grass on the ground all around them. Sora shook his head, deciding that he would ask for directions and just accept the fact that the couches ate raspberries and were slowly killing the floating fruits off.

Just as he was beginning to get close to the group of flopping couches, a thunderous boom came from high above him in the sky. He looked up, a sudden wind whipping his hair and clothes around, not to mention swinging all the random things that were floating in the sky haphazardly this way and that. Bringing his right hand up to try and block the sand that was suddenly blowing on the wind from his eyes, he watched as a rather large spaceship landed, sending the couches scattering off in every direction. With a regretful frown, he watched the couches run away into a setting sun. This wouldn't have usually concerned him, but the sun was setting in every direction he looked.

Shrugging it off as a coincidence, Sora turned his attention to the rather large spaceship. It was sleek and silver, it's covering reflecting the light of the many setting suns. His hand once again moved in front of his face, but now he was trying to block out the light being thrown his way by the ship. He closed his left eye, leaning away to the right and looking at the ship from his right eye. It seemed, to Sora, a bit rude and thoughtless to make a ship that reflected light so well. No one would ever want to get around you or your ship.

That was as far as his contemplations got, as an unseen hatch suddenly opened, pouring out smoke that seemed to be there only to make the scene more dramatic. Green lights from the inside of the ship made the fog seemed to glow an eerie radioactive-green. All in all, it looked like a very dangerous and cancer-causing place to be. Sora briefly wondered if there was a person coming out or just fog and if there was a person coming out, would they be here to eat to muffins? Or perhaps they were the ones that had forced all the random, sugary objects into the sky.

This is the end of the 'dream sequence', for we have now arrived back to when Riku has thrown himself onto his friend's stomach and awakened him from a rather odd dream. It is now time for the witty and interesting insults and comebacks, which will most likely end up being dim and uninteresting. Entrancing dialogue is hard, so just be glad that there is dialogue.

Sora's body had been peaceful, calm, one could go so far as to say that it was tranquil, not even worrying about the rather embarrassing boxers it was wearing. The force of gravity that was pulling it down was just right, the blankets thrown across the room in the best way possible. The only thing that made this morning not the best morning it'd had since yesterday's morning was the sun that had crept in sometime while it had been relaxing. However, it had yet to awaken, so it seemed as if Sora's body was winning the war against light.

Then, out of nowhere, the fierce ally of awake-ness and sun was on Sora's stomach, growling and tickling the tan skin that was trapped within a twisted white shirt.

"Ah. . . Riku . . . get . . . off . . . me. ." Sora breathed through laughs, trapped in-between Riku's twin tickling hands.

"Make me." Not the most inventive comeback ever thought up, but the silver-haired tickler was too busy grinning like a madman and running his hands up and down his friend's sides, chuckling at the squirms and giggles it got from his younger friend.

"Can't . . . breathe!" the brunet gasped, pushing against the chest of his tormentor.

"So? Oxygen is over-rated anyway."

"At least . . . get your . . . fat ass off . . . my stomach . . ."

"Hey!" shouted Riku, making a face of mock hurt, "how can you say such things? I guess now the punishment will have to be twice as harsh!"

"Noooo!"

"Ha ha! Show no mercy!" With a renewed vigor, Riku plunged ahead with his mad tickling; laughing insanely as Sora laughed against his will, his eyes tearing up with what we can only guess was incredible pain.

"Uh . . . what are you guys doing up here?"

Riku stopped mid-tickle, his visage growing angry and a frown settling across his brow. There was only one girl on the island with that sickeningly sweet voice, only one girl who would dare to enter a boy's room without knocking, only one girl who was trying to steal Riku's Sora. The silver haired boy's eyes narrowed. Kairi.

Still glaring, the jealous boy swung the upper half of his body around so he was looking at the girl who had dared to intrude upon a very intimate tickle-fest. It was unheard of for one of the female persuasion to just randomly throw herself into a boy's room because she was his 'best friend'. Ha! It made Riku laugh. Kairi thought _she_ was Sora's best friend. It was absurd. _He_ was Sora's best friend, and no _girl_ could take his place.

Remembering that he had the advantage of being the right gender for the room they were currently sitting in, he allowed the glare to fall off his face, replaced with a relaxed smile. There was no way Sora could choose Kairi over himself as long as they were in a boy's domain, where girls were automatically less fun than boys.

"Um. . . Hello? I'm not . . . interrupting some sacred ritual am I?" Her question was accompanied by a slight giggle, as if she had no idea what she had just done.

"Actually, you are. Sleepy Head here still needs to get dressed," Riku replied, as if daring the girl to stay and fight for her right to spend time around Sora.

"Oh, sorry to walk in on that." Another giggle. "Say Sora, when you get dressed, do you want to go and get some ice cream with me?"

"Well, we were-"

"Sure, that's sounds okay," Sora said, grinning like a maniac. "Riku, do you want to come too?"

"Wait Sora, I thought-"

"All right, count me in." The silver-haired boy grinned, then gave Kairi a look that clearly shouted out 'I win; try to stop me now without sounding rude'. He knew she couldn't, which was why he won.

"The more, the merrier . . ." Kairi's apprehension was almost enough to make Riku feel like prancing around and rubbing his scent all over his friend. It meant that she knew, that he knew, that she knew she'd lost.

"Yeah! But, until then, d'you guys think you could leave while I get dressed?" Sora had finally woken up enough to understand the basic concept of 'no friends in room while dressing'.

"All right, we'll be in the living room. C'mon Kairi." With that, Riku popped off Sora, turning as gracefully as a diving swallow that was going in for a kill and exiting the room, grabbing Kairi's elbow as he went by and pulling her out with him. He forgot to shut the door.

Sighing, Sora reluctantly got up from his warm bed and trudged despondently over to his open door, pushing it closed and ignoring hinges groans as he woke them up after they had just fallen back asleep from Riku's entrance earlier.

Now confident that neither of his friends would walk in, he went first to his drawer to get a clean pair of boxers, choosing a pair that had little chocobos all over it. Next, he went to his closet and selected his red jumper, his blue, black and white vest-coat hybrid, and his belt. He then went back over to his drawer and grabbed a pair of white socks. Throwing all of the clothing he had been carrying in his arms onto the bed, he got undressed and then began to redress in clean clothes.

A good fifteen minutes later, Sora came down and entered his living room, smiling a big goofy grin that displayed his recently-brushed teeth. He walked over to the table that had his gloves on it, quickly pulling them onto his fingers before flopping down on his cushiony, comfy couch to pull on his large yellow shoes.

"Did ya take long enough up there? What were you doing, primping?" Riku asked with a grin, throwing his arm around Sora's shoulders.

"Hey, knock it off will ya?" the brunet whined, squirming away from his friend's arm. Riku tackled him and with a battle cry of 'Noogie!' as if it were some savage combat ability he began rubbing the younger boy's messy head with a clenched fist. Now both laughing, they rolled about the living room, punching and kicking, biting and head ramming. Kairi stared almost amazed at the spectacle before her. It was as if the boys had, in their needs to show male dominance, forgotten she was there.

Shaking her head and clearing her throat, she marched over to them, delivering a swift kick to what she supposed was Sora's side. But as it turned out, her suppositions were incorrect. In fact, her supposition was so wrong that it could be compared to the time when Sora and Riku had tried to build a sandcastle right next to the coastline and supposed that it wouldn't get flooded when high tide came. Why was it so wrong, one might ask? It was because the swift kick got delivered to Riku's head.

"Ahhh! What is wrong with you, you crazy, crazy girl?" Riku cried, holding his head where he had gotten kicked. The teen rolled off his friend and began moaning in pain on the floor, lying on his side.

"Riku!" Sora yelled, jumping to his feet and crouching down next to his injured friend.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Riku, I'm so, so sorry. . ." Kairi blabbered, crouching down with Sora. "I really didn't mean to. . . I'm so sorry. . ."

"Yeah, I really wish I could believe that," he replied, still holding his head. "Jeez, give a guy some warning before you're gonna try to take his head off."

"Well I wasn't planning on kicking your head!" she yelled, hitting him on the head as she forgot she'd just kicked him in a way that only pissed off girls can.

"Ah! Fuck, just get away from me!" he clung to Sora's leg, trying to hide in the red material that covered it.

"Lemme go get my mom. . ." Sora offered, shaking Riku off and ignoring the teen's desperate cry to not leave him alone with the maniac in a skirt.

Feeling guilty as though this was somehow his own fault, Sora slunk into the kitchen where his mother sat, reading the morning paper. Sonya looked radiant today, her long brown hair free to cascade down her shoulders and back, with her long bangs on the side of her face, occasionally getting into her line of sight. The window that she sat by was transparent, as many windows tend to be and allowed to sun to strike her brunet locks and make them throw off sparks of gold and red, as if a tiny battle was going on in her hair with one side cheating by using Nukes.

Of course, no one who happened to walk in and see her hair shimmering like that would even think to compare it to a war, but it just so happens that in some reaches of the universe, people take all of their battles into hair, just to try and lessen the physical damage done to the places they live. Of course, Destiny Islands was a small little place and had no need for wars and therefore wars done in hair, so if anyone glanced at her, they would just say 'she has gorgeous hair' and be on their way.

"Mom. . ." the young brunet said tentatively, not sure if he really wanted to explain what had happened in the other room.

Sonya glanced up from her paper, her blue eyes showing concern. But even her concern, it seems, couldn't distract her too much as she picked up her coffee cup and took another sip before answering her son. "Yeah, what's the matter hun?"

"Well . . . uh. . . It's kinda hard to explain. . . You . . . you have to see it really. ." She gave him a bland look, wondering who had been hurt. "What? It wasn't like I hurt Riku . . . shit. Yeah, Riku's hurt, you'd better come see. . ."

Shaking her head, Sonya followed her son into the living room, expecting to see Riku laying in the debris of something akin to an atomic bomb and bleeding to death. "Sora, please don't curse. I know how old you are, but that doesn't mean you can say whatever you want in front of your mother."

Laughing and rubbing the back of his head with his right gloved hand, Sora led his mother over to where Riku lay with Kairi crouched down right next to him. It would've looked like they were just having a friendly conversation, Riku feeling lazy and not wanting to get up and Kairi therefore just dealing with it and crouching to talk to him. That is what it would've looked like, had the large blackish-blue bruise not thrown itself onto Riku's jaw where he had been kicked.

"Hey Sonya, what's up?" The swelling in his mouth made Riku's phrase come out as something that sounded relatively like this: 'shay, shone-y-ah, fwhatsss up'.

Sonya, being the responsible adult in the room, cracked up at his accented speech. "Riku . . . go into . . . the kitchen . . . And put i- . . . ice on your jaw," she gasped out through laughs, only laughing harder when Riku playfully slapped her arm.

"Yeah yeah . . ." the silver haired boy muttered on his way out, rubbing his aching jaw slightly. Sora looked over at his friend in concern before punching his mother lightly in the shoulder and following Riku into the kitchen.

"I think we've got some Aspirin or sumthin' for you to take," the brunet suggested as he dug around in his cabinets for some of those sweet, sweet pills.

"Yeah, thanks," Riku replied, wincing as it came out 'yeah, shaanktes'.

Struggling back a girlish giggle at Riku's slur, Sora tossed the bottle of Aspirin over to his friend before fetching a glass of water so that the pills could easily be sentenced to drown in his friend's mouth before sliding gently down the esophagus and into the acidic fluids of the stomach to be chewed away at until they broke and released the pain killers they contained.

"No problem. My pills are your pills."

Not bothering to reply to the brunet's statement, Riku gulped two Aspirin down, emptying the glass of its liquid insides before placing it upside down in the sink for Sonya to wash. What Riku didn't know, however, was that an upside down cup in a sink just happened to be a sign on another planet that a bomb should be thrown on top of the glass. That being the case, elsewhere in the universe, a man was preparing to launch a bomb at the wonderful Destiny Islands. Just as he was about to hit the big red button, one of his associates came in, said 'no no, false alarm' and single-handedly saved the world from being blown to bits while at the same time proving you don't always have to beat things with swords to save the world.

Back with Sora and Riku, they had gone back into the living room, Riku rubbing his aching jaw and Sonya trying to bite back laughter. Giving his friend's mother a low 'shut up' the silver haired boy slunk outside, ready to go kick some of his friends' asses with a wooden sword. Kairi followed after him, chatting quietly at Sora. It couldn't be called 'with' because Sora wasn't responding, and it couldn't be called 'to' because her mindless words were aimed at anyone in hearing distance.

Suddenly, the brunet perked up and ran to catch up with Riku. "Hey! Hey Riku! Why don't you just use a potion?"

"You mean like when I fight with you?" Riku teased.

"Yeah, that always- Wait a minute, that's cheating! Riku!"

Laughing, Riku pushed away his now-attacking best friend. "Joking! I was only joking! But that is a good idea; I'm actually kinda surprised it came from you." Breaking out in another fit of laughter as a volley of punches came his way, the silver haired boy ran off, jumping into his boat and starting to paddle off towards the Island of Children.

Glaring with the force of a charging rhinoceros, Sora marched quickly over to his own boat, leaping gracefully into it and beginning to paddle after his friend, completely forgetting about the stationary Kairi, who stood on the beach staring after her two friends as they abandoned her. Looking down at the sand, she wondered why the two boys were excluding her, came to the conclusion that they were fighting for her attention, and got into her own boat, giggling and slowly rowing towards the Island.

When she finally docked her boat, the two boys were rolling around on the ground pulling at each others' cheeks. Daintily raising her right hand to cover her mouth, Kairi giggled, sauntering over to Sora and Riku. The brunet was the first to look up, grinning at his friend while Riku disentangled himself from Sora. Moving away quickly, the silver haired boy sat down in the sand, looking up at Kairi. Oh, how he hated her . . .

"Well, are we gonna get to building the raft soon?" she asked while Riku mentally added 'oops, I meant you two were gonna do all the work while I sit on my ass.'

"Yeah! I'm ready!" Sora exclaimed, jumping up from his position on the ground and pumping a fist in the air.

"That's the spirit!" Kairi put in, balling her hands into fist and bouncing slightly. She then turned to Riku. "What about you? Are you ready to go?"

"Sure, why not? It's not like I've got anything better to do." The silver haired boy waved a hand nonchalantly, pretending it wasn't even his idea to build the raft.

"Wait! I just remembered something!" Sora shouted, holding his right hand in the air with his index finger extended and the rest curled into a fist. All eyes, even Wakka's, were on him. "We're supposed to go get ice cream."

They all looked at the brunet, thinking that this was something quite cunning coming from their usually naïve and dense friend. "By golly, he's right," whispered Kairi, as if afraid to break the moment with her normal overly-loud voice. Riku wanted to punch her.

"Yeah, anyway, we were supposed to get ice cream, but I'd rather work on the ship," the silver haired boy said while walking off. "And speaking of working on the raft, I'm gonna go collect some wood. The rest of you do whatever."

"Riku's right, we have more important things to do," Kairi said, punching a fist in the air. "Let's all work together!"

"No. I'm not getting' involved in whatever you guys are doin', ya?" Wakka said, grabbing his BlitzBall and walking off towards Tidus. "Me an' Tidus are gonna play a little game, ya?" Now, many people would try to answer the red-haired boy, seeing as he ended most of his sentences with a questioning 'ya'. However, this was not truly a question; rather, it was just another way of ending his phrases. It was a stupid way, and it truly meant nothing, but then again, there are many people in the universe who are stupid and truly mean nothing. Wakka is one of them.

"See ya later then!" Sora called, waving as his friend walked off. "I guess I'll go collect rations for our journey?"

"Sure, that'd be great!" Kairi agreed. "And while you're doing that, I'll make a few necklaces for good luck!"

Nodding and grinning, the brunet walked off to search the island for a seagull's egg, fish, fresh water, mushrooms, and a picnic basket, in case they came across a nice, grassy place to stop while they traveled. Some would question the wisdom of bringing a picnic basket, but others would stop and realize that even if they didn't find a nice, grassy place to stop, that basket could still carry some good stuff.

When it was almost sundown, the three friends gathered in front of their almost-completed raft, each holding something in their hands. In Sora's were three mushrooms, two seagull eggs, a picnic basket, three bottles of fish, and a bottle of fresh water. As Kairi and Riku both looked over what Sora had gotten, they noticed their friend was sporting a few new scrapes and bruises. At their questioning looks, the brunet explained that he'd had a bit of trouble getting the eggs from the mother.

Riku was holding four rather heavy logs, three to finish the bottom of the raft and the longest one to form the mast of their ship. As his friends looked over the wood, he explained that he had already sanded it down so they could use it, but that the mast would need a few more additions to it before being able to be used as their mast. They needed hooks to put the sails on and such.

Finally, Kairi displayed what she had been holding. Three necklaces made out of shells. She launched into an explanation of how the old sailors had thought that necklaces such as these brought good luck. Riku mentally rolled his eyes and didn't even bother to pretend to look interested while Sora merely stared dully at her, nodding every now and then to show that he was still alive.

When the sun finally set, the three friends had just finished up tying everything on the raft together. They were all wearing their necklaces, making them look as though they were all in some strange raft-building cult. Coincidentally, there was a raft-building cult wearing the exact same kind of necklaces on a not-too-far-away planet, but those children would never meet, so there is no need to talk about them.

"Guys, I've gotta hurry home now, my mom wanted me home by 9. See ya later!" Kairi stated, running off and waving at her friends who stood side by side and waved back at their departing friend. Riku couldn't be happier to have the girl leave, and he couldn't even remember a time when he had liked her so much.

The silver haired boy turned towards his companion, admiring how beautiful the brunet looked silhouetted against the rising moon, dark sand, and sparkling ocean. It was captivating, and Riku had to try rather hard to keep from drooling over his best friend.

"So, you wanna stay out here for a little while longer?" he asked Sora, trying hard to reign in the hope that had attempted to throw itself into his voice. He'd have to do something about his hopeful side, but now was not the time for punishment.

"Yeah, it's nice out," the brunet replied, tossing a grin at his friend before looking out at the ocean. "I don't have to go back home for a little while anyway . . . Whaddya wanna do?"

"Let's go to the Secret Place, it's nice to look at in the dark," Riku suggested, the insufferable hope sneaking into his voice again. Luckily, the brunet was so dense that it slipped into one of his ears and was immediately thrown out the other one, leaving only the statement heard.

"Sure!"

Much to Riku's relief, the two didn't say anything while they walked slowly over to the secret place. The silver haired boy didn't know what he would've said, and would probably had, if they had spoken, come out of any conversation as embarrassed a woman who walked naked into a public setting and had no boobs what-so-ever to speak of.

They both stopped at the entrance to the Secret Place, looking into the mysterious cavern. It was nice at night, but sometimes it seemed a little freaky. Like now, when there was a strange glowing light coming from the empty cave. So, all in all, it was a perfectly good reason for the two boys to stand in the entrance, not daring to go in any closer.

As they stared in awe, they could hear voices quietly cursing the lights. Apparently, the lights never went out when they were supposed to, which had led to some very awkward encounters on other planets. Sora and Riku looked at each other with bewildered expressions before staring into the soft light again. Soon, there was a triumphant 'Ah-ha' and the light suddenly snapped off. They looked at each other again before slowly starting to back away from the cave.

"Maybe if we keep quiet, they won't know we're here . . ." suggested Riku in a hushed voice as they slowly backed away, moving as little as possible in the hopes that whatever was in there needed to see motion in order to notice anyone.

"Good idea," the brunet agreed, "so keep your mouth shut more than usual."

"Me!" his friend demanded softly, swiftly jabbing his elbow into Sora's side. "You're the one who never shuts up."

Sora glared, pinching Riku sharply on his arm. "Yeah, well look who's talking now."

"You're talking now!"

"No I'm not, it was you!" Their voices had risen in volume.

"Well you're still talking!"

"Yeah, but you're the one who's louder than me!" It had by now become a shouting contest.

"Oh, come on. You're ALWAYS loud!"

"That's not true!"

"YEAH IT IS!"

"TAKE IT BACK!"

"NEVER!" And before they knew it they were rolling around on the ground wrestling, the threat of the people in the cave forgotten. They punched, kicked, bit, anything they could think of. Once, Riku even poked Sora in the eye, something he regretted instantly as the brunet responded by taking a chunk out of his arm.

"Uh, what are you doing exactly?" asked a perplexed Kairi as she stared at the fighting boys.

"Nothing," they both said quickly, scrambling apart from each other. It was a natural thing for boys caught in the middle of fighting to break apart and act like nothing had happened.

As they moved away from each other, they remembered the light and the voices from the cave. They shared a quick glance and then stared back at the cavern. What was in there anyway? And, what was Kairi doing here? That was more mysterious than any being in the cave.

"What're you doing here Kairi?" Sora asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Oh, your parents wanted me to come back and get you two for dinner," she replied with a shrug. Smiling down at her friends, her eyes drifted towards the cave, where something was . . . "Sora, look out!"

No sooner than she had said that did a lasso whip around the boy, tightening his arms to his sides. Sora only had time to look down in surprise at the rope around his arms before it was tugged on forcefully and he was jerked into the cave.

"Ahhhh!" he screamed as his feet were lifted clear off the ground and he flew into the cave.

"Holy shit! C'mon Kairi, we have to get out of here and find help!" Riku cried, grabbing Kairi's arm and running back towards the boats. Just as they were nearing the boats a rope flew up from the side and twisted around Riku's ankle. Falling to the ground with an 'oof', Riku stared down at the rope. Nothing happened for a moment, then the rope suddenly pulled him underground and back into the Secret Place.

By now, Kairi was living up to her gender and becoming hysterical. Turning around, she bolted for the boats, only to have a rope dangle in front of her. Her screams becoming even more high-pitched than usual, she quickly backed up, only to trip clumsily over her own feet. Thinking that she would be kidnapped as well, she tightly shut her eyes, leaning her torso away from the rope and putting her right hand up in front her, as if that alone would save her.

After a few moments of nothing, she slowly opened her eyes and lowered her hand. Nothing had taken her, but the rope was lying on the ground where she had once been standing. Crawling on her hands and knees towards it, she picked it up, looking questioningly at the note attached to it. Sitting up on her knees she held the rope out in front of her, reading the note aloud.

"To whom this may concern. We, that is, everyone here on the space ship, have taken the two boys in the hopes that we can stop the Heartless, that is, the shadows that fail to possess hearts, from ever returning. This, of course, means the two boys in question will never return. Yours Truly, Us. That is, everyone here on the space ship." Finishing the letter, she screamed once more before passing out.


End file.
